carbonation

I just tried my IPA after 2 weeks in the bottle and there is almost zero carbonation. Is this a normal occurrence? Should I wait another week or so?

If you could provide more detail, I think the community will be better equipped to provide more meaningful feedback.

What was the FG of the beer? Higher gravity beers can take longer to carbonate.

Also, how much priming sugar did you use, of what type, in what volume of beer?

What was your bottling technique? How did you mix the priming sugar into the beer prior to bottling?

...or we could simply answer, yes. The OP *should* wait another week or so.

In my experience some of my beers were carbonated in 2 weeks, some took much longer. And all of them tasted better at 3 weeks and longer. I vote wait. But if given more information we could see if there were any procedural mistakes.

3 to 4 weeks generally work well at 70F or a lil more to carbonate. But that's for the average gravity beer. Then a week or two fridge time for thick head & longer lasting carbonation.

woozy said:

...or we could simply answer, yes. The OP *should* wait another week or so.

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That would have been a righteous answer if the OP had let us know just a bit more detail, like at what temperature he's been storing his bottles. Some newer brewers have made the mistake of putting them in the fridge right after bottling.

Another thing that will help is to, after 3-4 weeks at room temp, refrigerate 3+ days before opening.

BigFloyd said:

That would have been a righteous answer if the OP had let us know just a bit more detail,

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I was being somewhat facetious. There's always variation but the rule of thumb is 3+ weeks and 70+ degrees. Two weeks is just too early. But okay, I admit "zero" carb sound ominous but... it's just too early.

The first part of solving a problem is determining if there is a problem. As two weeks is too early... there is no problem. Come back in a week. In the meantime read up on storage and carb time. In reading you should learn not to put them in the fridge directly. (If the OP did then: take them out and start all over again. place them someplace 70+ degrees and give them another 3 weeks. )

Okay, details are always good and if the OP did something specifically wrong (like put them in the fridge; didn't put any priming sugar, etc.) we can catch and pre-empt. But if the OP did everything fine... well, 2 weeks is too early.

Take two aspirins and call us in the morning.

Well since this is my first time brewing I bought a kit from a local home brew store and followed the directions that they had. It is only a gallon (which I know is a very little amount) ant the kit said to use one cup of water and dissolve 3 tablespoons of honey into the water. I then mixed that in with my beer, that has been fermenting for 2 full weeks, in a sanitized pot after the priming solution was fully mixed in I used a siphon to get the beer into the bottles. I used swing top style bottles and they have sat at room temperature (73-75 degrees) for two weeks. I only put one bottle in the refrigerator to make sure it was carbonated enough and it clearly had just a few bubbles. Sorry for the very vague question before but I am extremely new to this and I do not know how to measure gravity so I can't provide that information for you.

timmyd48 said:

the kit said to use one cup of water and dissolve 3 tablespoons of honey into the water.

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I'm surprised that they specified honey to prime. It's hard to accurately measure it (especially for a one gallon batch) plus it will likely take longer for the yeast to eat it and produce CO2 vs. using cane (table) sugar.

Change the recommended carbing time to 4 weeks. You don't have any volume there to waste popping them too early.

Were the little red (or sometimes white) gaskets on your swing-top bottles in good shape?

Yes they are brand new

Just wait and something good will come of it

Usually 2 weeks gives a good carbonation but I usually wait at least 6 weeks before opening the first bottle.

It's been quite a while since I brewed with kits, but when did priming with honey become standard practice? This is the first I have heard of this. Are the kit makers trying to save a few cents by not including corn sugar any more?

I guess that's the case. They don't include the sugars. Just the grain and hops

I tend to be a traditionalist type of brewer and I typically stick with what is tried and true. From that perspective, you might want to pick up some corn sugar and try that next time. While I have heard that honey ferments out completely and leaves no trace of a honey taste, that has not been my experience. Mead sure tastes like honey to me. I think the corn sugar will be more neutral.

I've had brand new growlers/swing tops with gaskets that appear to be in good shape (because they're brand new!) not hold carbonation at all. For example, I used a brand spankin new growler and put some kegged brew in to bring to a party. As soon as i closed the lid, a little "sssssppppppp" started out of smaller than a pin sized area out of the corner of the lid. Well....damn. It held enough carbonation in to last until I could use up the growler at the party, but it would never hold more than a few hours at MOST.

My point, you could potentially have a leak in the gaskets or....like everyone else said...just wait longer and see if it will carb over time.

tnlandsailor said:

It's been quite a while since I brewed with kits, but when did priming with honey become standard practice? This is the first I have heard of this. Are the kit makers trying to save a few cents by not including corn sugar any more?

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Hello? Sample case of one? Insufficient data? Jump to conclusions?

One recipe kit choosing honey for one particular style of beer does not make it the new "standard practice". And if the kit makers were trying to save a few cents, they'd have suggested table sugar which is easier, more standard and more neutral than honey.

This is simply a matter of the makers of *this* beer thought honey would taste good with this particular style. You *have* seen recipes that use honey, DME, maple syrup and other alternatives, haven't you? These recipes aren't attempting to define a new standard, are they?

That said, you are absolutely correct that corn sugar is the standard and can always be used. If you don't feel comfortable with a recipe's call for hibiscus-infused agave nectar, you can also keep it simple (and cheaper) and use corn sugar. The flavor-loss is pretty minimal and priming sugar really isn't the place to add flavor anyway. It's a rare beer in which using an "exotic" priming agent will make any difference. But there are some styles in which a priming agent will give it just a nice little nudge.

Anyway... honey, give it time. Honey's more complex so it'll take longer to carb. Just give it two more weeks.

In future, use a priming sugar calculator and measure by weight, not volume.

Point taken. Been a looooong time since I bottle conditioned or brewed with a kit. The honey angle really threw me, especially for an IPA. I suppose the kit makers can do a number of things to try and get creative results.

So I left it carbonating for two more weeks and it came out perfect! Thank you for the advice, as a newbie I was more than excited to try my brew but learned a valuable lesson that waiting is always worth it! Thanks guys